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Education

Task Force to Study Teacher Retention

By Devin Katayama, Kentucky Public Radio

A task force created by the Pritchard Committee for Academic Excellence will meet at the end of this week to begin a year-and-a-half effort to address how to retain an effective teaching workforce in Kentucky. The Pritchard Committee Team on Teacher Effectiveness will include nearly 30 members made up of legislators, education professionals and other advisors.

The panel will look more broadly at policy issues preventing retention of strong teachers, said Cindy Heine, Pritchard’s associate director.

“Some people think if you just solved one problem you could fix teaching. You’ve got to look at the broad spectrum. How do you recruit highly skilled people? How do you prepare them?” she said.

Representatives from North Carolina’s Center on Teaching Quality will advise the task force on speakers and resources that can be used to research the issue, said Heine.

“We aren’t going to be able to dig real deeply into each issue, but we’re going to try to look at what we’re doing in Kentucky, what seems to be working, where are the gaps, what are other states doing,” she said.

Heine said there have been improvements in teacher training in Kentucky’s higher education programs including the selection process some colleges are using to admit new teachers.